My littlest gave me a card that professed his love and a foil-wrapped, crown-wearing, milk chocolate frog for Valentine’s Day.

“Did you give me a frog prince, my darling?” I asked.

“No, Momma. It is a queen. See the crown? I got this for you because you are like a queen.”

I thanked him and kissed my little prince on the forehead. I displayed the Valentines atop my mantle with our other family proclamations. The girls looked pretty with hearts hanging from their slender necks and the littlest enjoyed his toys.

Until the frog called him.

The mantle was too high for him to reach. He retrieved his light saber to knock the wished-for sweet from its lofty perch. I intercepted.

He looked at me with wide, serious eyes. “Don’t you like your present?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then why aren’t you eating it?”

“Well, I wanted to wait until after dinner.”

“But it is right there. I bet it tastes good.”

I laughed. “I bet it will,” I ruffled his hair, “after dinner.” I confiscated the light saber.

He stared at the treat, its foil reflecting green and gold. A look of determination crinkled his brow.

“Mom, don’t you think it might get stale if you wait too long to eat the frog queen?”

“No, I think it will keep.”

“I’m pretty sure you have to hurry and eat those things, Mom. They aren’t supposed to sit on top of a fireplace like that. They aren’t statues, you know.”

So our banter continued. He worried the chocolate might melt. He wondered if under the foil, the chocolate had colors. Did it hop like in Harry Potter?

I realized the gift would torment his inquisitive soul, so I took it from the mantle and sat beside him on the couch. We unwrapped the crinkling foil and discovered the hollow figure possessed neither color nor detail.

“I bet it’s delicious, though.”

I took a nibble. He devoured the rest. I crinkled the cold foil into a ball as he rubbed his belly. “Yum! You got a good Valentine, didn’t you, Momma?”

I kissed a bit of chocolate from his cheek. Its sweetness lingered on my lips. “Sure did.”

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